94% Increase in Elderly Prisoners Fuels Medical Care Cost Spike by 52%

by Mark Wilson

According to a report by The Pew Charitable Trust, healthcare costs increased by an average of 52 percent in 42 states between 2001 and 2008 for prisoners. Overall, these states spent $6.5 billion on prisoner health care in 2008, up from $4.2 billion in 2001.

“Health care is consuming a growing share of state budgets, and corrections departments are not immune to this trend,” said Maria Schiff, director of the State Health Care Spending Project, an initiative of Pew and the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.

Researchers analyzed inflation-adjusted correctional health care expenditures collected by the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) from 44 participating states. General per-prisoner spending also increased an average of 32 percent in 35 states during the same period, according to the DOJ data.

One major reason for the overall cost increase is the continued growth of the nation’s prison population. During the research period, that population grew by 200,000, or 15 percent, according to the PEW report.

The spike in prisoner medical care costs is due primarily to the comparable spike in the number of aging prisoners. The number of state and federal prisoners age 55 or older increased 94 percent, from 40,200 in 2001 to 77,800 in 2008. By 2011, that number topped 121,800, a 203 percent increase. Health care costs for elderly prisoners are two to three times higher than treatment costs for other prisoners, according to the report.

As prison officials desperately try to rein in health care costs, some states are tapping into Medicaid funds. [See: PLN, Apr. 2011, p. 44; Jan 2013, p. 40; Nov 2013, p. 24]. Others are trying to cut costs in other ways, such as through the increased use of telemedicine and outsourcing medical services to state universities and other providers, according to the report.

Source:Stateline.org